Daybreak 1.3
| previous = Daybreak 1.2 | next = Daybreak 1.4 }} is the third chapter of Daybreak. Crystalclear’s power is described, says trouble is coming, cape hate abounds. Fume Hood airs her past to Victoria, villain erupts and villains arrive in an 18-wheeler crash. Plot Victoria responds to Crystalclear’s bad vibes, setting the patrol group around the building and quickly making introductions with the fledgling hero group. She asks Crystalclear to describe his power and why he is starting to worry about possible incoming danger. Crystalclear describes he sees the world as if everything was crystal, with edges and corners catching the light. This allows him to see through solid objects, and he can gain some information such as past or future states of those objects by the colors of the edges, red representing the past and blue representing the future. He says he sees the walls vibrating in the future, possibly something chaotic happening soon. At the present, any danger isn’t too clear. There isn’t anything to do but wait and possibly make some preparations. Before splitting up, the group comments on the hate their group have gotten. The public is still angry at Fume Hood because of a miscarriage she caused in her past, and Crystalclear comments how the hate is targeted on all of them as a group. Victoria makes the observation that it’s not hate but blame. After humanity’s close call during Gold Morning, people are angry and they are lashing out at any target that presents itself, which is now the Norfair group. Fume Hood leaves to get a drink of water, Fume Hood and Tempera leave to watch for more news. Victoria follows Fume Hood. She breaks the ice by asking what Fume Hood’s plan was for her hero career, what her reasons were for leaving her old life as a villain. She says that she thought of it as community service, without a defined ideology or motive. She tells Victoria about her guilt over her old life, and why she wanted to make a change. She shares that her old life was fun, with drugs and excitement and interesting people, at least at first. In the end, the drugs lost their appeal and the cool people either died or became boring. When she accidentally caused a miscarriage during one of her robberies, the perks of her villain life weren’t worth the heat that came on her and she turned herself in. Fume Hood tells Victoria that she didn’t turn herself in for altruistic reasons but because she needed a change. Fume Hood says she doesn’t feel bad about the accidental miscarriage she caused, but she does admit that she shouldn’t have took part in the robbery that caused it. Victoria calls her out, pointing out that Fume Hood has regrets and those are her reasons for trying to join this group. Fume Hood ends up admitting that Victoria is right. They both know that the Norfair group of Crystalclear, Tempera, Longscratch and Fume Hood won’t survive the blame and outcry from the community and the danger that’s about to come. Victoria says that Fume Hood should try again, that she can make another shot of it. Fume Hood seems to open up, and they move to join the others in a better mood. An officer outside asks Victoria about the current situation. Victoria says that the parahumans believe that there will be danger soon, and she believes them. Crystalclear arrives to give Victoria an update on the situation: Two impacts in approximately six or seven minutes. Victoria begins directing people away from windows and starts planning for an attack. Victoria has to surreptitiously use her emotion aura to move people blocking the Wayfair bus, to move it into a more strategic location. A man in the crowd starts acting very strangely, vibrating violently. Victoria yells for cover, and uses her shield to protect herself and Jasper. The strange man explodes in a bloody mess, covering the crowd in more gore than should exist in a human body. After this happens, the crowd starts acting in unison, the entire crowd looking left, then right, implying a parahuman ability in effect. Victoria directs Jasper to drive the bus, avoiding the controlled humans. They see a massive logging truck coming down the road, front enforced with metal braces. The truck is coming from the direction of the water, with far too much speed than should be allowed in the limited space, implying another parahuman ability. It was going full speed, straight for the side door of the community center. Victoria decides that if the truck hit the building, people inside could be hurt. She yells for Jasper to hit the truck with the bus, as hard as he can. She has one glimpse of the inside before the impact: Multiple costumes. Characters Patrol Group *Victoria Dallon *Jasper Unnamed Cape Group *Fume Hood *Crystalclear *Tempera *Longscratch Oncoming Villains *Unnamed Exploding Parahuman *Parahuman driving the truck Site Navigation